[Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs press release] Sixteen grants, totaling $221,300 for the Roanridge Trust Award Grants, have been announced for 2016.

The Roanridge Trust Award grants are awarded annually for new and creative models for leadership development in small communities across The Episcopal Church. The Roanridge Trust was established by the Cochel family, who donated a working farm in Missouri called Roanridge to The Episcopal Church. The interest from the sale of the farm generates the grant funds.

Awarded for 2016 work were:
Diocese of California: Evangelism Training for St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Brentwood, California

Diocese of Chicago: Project Resource Rural Church Stewardship Initiative

Diocese of Colorado: Seminarium: Theological Education & Leadership Formation for the Rural Parish

Dioceses of East Tennessee & Alabama: Transforming Congregations & Communities

Diócesis Litoral, Iglesia Episcopal del Ecuador: Training and development of leaders in management of gender violence and childhood and teenage pregnancy in the Manabí area

Diocese of Los Angeles: Church Nuts and Bolts in Ten Minutes or Less

Episcopal Church in Navajoland Area Mission: Appreciative Inquiry for Navajo Clergy

Diocese of New York: Spark Education Center

Diocese of Newark: Going Local

Diocese of Mississippi: AC Marble School

Diocese of Oregon: Escuela de Liderez Montesinos

Diocese of Spokane: Between the Ridges Doctrine of Discovery Training

Diocese of Tennessee: DuBose Conference Center Community Engagement Initiative

Diocese of Vermont: The Pastoral Power of Listening

Diocese of Virginia: Rural Health Care Ministries

Diocese of Western Kansas: New Deacons’ Mentoring Program 2016

Committee
The members of the Roanridge Grant Selection Committee were: N. Kurt Barnes, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer; the Rev. David Copley, Global Partnerships Mission Personnel Officer; the Rev. Meghan F. Froehlich, Transition Ministry Acing Missioner; C. Kirk Hadaway, PhD, Congregational Research Officer; the Rev. Canon E. Mark Stevenson, Domestic Poverty Missioner; and Charles A. Wynder, Jr., Social Justice and Advocacy Engagement Missioner.